Process of recovering nicotin from tobacco material.



PATENTED AUG. 18, 1908.

G. B. LINDENBERGER & R. B. ARNOLD. PROCESS OF RECOVERING NICOTIN PROM TOBACCO MATERIAL.

. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1905.

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,UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE B. LINDE'NRERGER AND ROBERT B. ARNOLD,'OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE KENTUCKY TOBACCO PRODUCT COMPANY, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, A COR- PORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OF RECOVERING- NICOTIN FROM TOBACCO MATERIAL.

Specification of Letter Patent.

Patented Aug. 18, 1908.

Application. filed September 13, 1905. Serial No. 278,225.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, GEORGE E. LINDEN- BERGER and ROBERT B. ARNOLD, citizens of the United States, both residing in Richmond, county of Henrico, and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Recovering Nicotin from Tobacco Material, fully described and. represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, form' ing a part of the same.

This invention relates to a novel process for recovering nicotin and other volatlle constituents of tobacco, the invention being especially designed for treating tobacco stems or stalks, or tobacco refuse, but applicable also to tobacco in any form from w chit is desired to extract the nicotin or other volatile constituents for any purpose.

constituents, and maintaining the material The broad feature of the invention consists in passing steam through the tobacco stems or stalks, or tobacco-material of other form, to extract the nicotin or other volatile at 'such a tempprature as to prevent con densation, so t at the tobacco material is left-in a dry state and the extracted constituents are carried off by the steam, which is then condensed or otherwise treated to recover the .nicotin or other constituents extracted, or to form a solution of such nicotin or other constituents. In passing the steam v through the tobacco material it is essential to the process that conden's'ation'in-the materlalbe prevented, in order to permit the steam to pass through and act fully upon the material and to leave the tobacco material in the dry state desired for other uses. If condensation be permitted, the material Wlll mat together and the desired action of the cuts will be retained to some extent in the condensation, and the material will be left n such condition as to be of little or no value.

The steam is referably superheated and is preferably use(i -at as high a temperature as possible without decomposing the mater al to be treated or the nicotin or other volatile constituents, and the pressure will preferably be low'for economy, so as as 'much heat'as possible between the saturated steam temperature at that pre'ssure and the temperature that can housed in the process. The chamber containing the toomy of the super to make available ature as to bacco material is preferably heated for econeated steam, which may efficiently be done by a steam jacket through which steam at high pressure andsubstantially the tem erature' of the superheated steam is passed? The invention includes, in addition tothe broad feature of treating tobacco material by steam as described above, certain subordinate process features, all as fully described and particularly claimed hereafter.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this speclfication, and in which a simple apparatus for carrying out the invention is shown diagrammatica ly-Figure 1 is a diagram of an .apparatus having a single chamber for the application of the superheated steam. Fig'. 2 is a diagram showin .an ap aratuswith aseries of chambers an su er eaters. v i

eferring now especially to Fig. 1, A is'a superheater of any common or su1tab'le form on steam pipe .B through wlnch the steam asses to the chamber C contaimng the toacco material to be treated. The steam with the volatile constituents extracted from the tobacco. material pass from the chamber through pipe -D to a condenser E which may be of any suitable form. The condensed steam with the nicotin and other tobacco constituents may be treated after condensation in any well-known or suitable manner.

Instead of condensing the steam, it may be treated in any other manner, according to the product desired. It is im ortant that radiation of heat from the charm er should be prevented, and the chamber will be constructed by jacketing or otherwise to secure this result. As shown, the chamber C is'provided with a jacket F through which a heating medium is passed to heat the chamber-C and thus secure the highest economy in the use of the superheated steam. The heating medium is preferably steam at substantially the temperature of the superheated steam, and inlet and outlet pipes G, H connecting with the jacket F are shown.

While the steam jacketed chamber is preferably used for high economy, and as 'a convenient means to assure the maintaining of the interior of the chamber at such a temper-.

prevent condensation in the tobacco material, either with or without superheat in the extracting steam, it will be understood that the maintenance of this temperature may be secured in any other suitable manner, and with superheated steam condensation may be prevented by sufficient superheating.

As stated above the process is intended especially for use in connection with tobacco stems or stalks, or other tobacco refuse, and in preparing these stems or stalks for the process, they will preferably be broken up before treatment. An alkali, as, for instance, caustic soda, may also be applied to them before treatment, to liberate the nicotin. It may be necessary or desirable also to use an acid as, for instance, sulfuric acid, in connection with concentrating the extract.

Thetemperature of the superheated steam employed is preferably as high as can safely be used, but the steam may be used at any lower temperature. A temperature of from 350 F. to 400 F. can safely be used with tobacco stems or stalks. It is found in practice that good results are secured with the safe temperature of 250 F. to 300? F.

The apparatus illustrated in the diagram, Fig. 2, is substantially the same as shown in Fig. 1 except that a series of chambers O, C, C C are used with a series of superheaters A, A, A A so that the steam may be run through the chambers successively, being superheated between each two" chambers. While a series of superheaters is shown, a single superheater and suitable connections for returning the steam between chambers would naturally be used in practice. Connections will preferably be provided, as shown, so that any one of the chambers may be cut out for filling, and any chamber may be used as the initial chamber, as well known in closed diffusion systems.

By passing the'steam successively through a series of chambers containing the tobacco material, not only is steam economized and convenience in handling large quantities of material secured, but this feature is important, also, in concentrating and reducing the quantity of the distillate with correslponding reduction in the expense of conensation and further concentration. By ig roperly connecting the chambers, also, the

esh steam may be used for final extraction and the fullest recovery of the nicotin contained in the material thus be secured.

This process provides a very efficient and economical method of drying tobacco or tobacco stems or stalks or other tobacco material, and at the same time extracting the nicotin or other valuable constituents and leaving the stems or stalks in condition for other uses, but it will be understood that the process may be applied also to tobacco material which has been reviously dried,

and the process used only or extracting the nicotin or other volatile constituents.

The most valuable use of tobacco stems or stalks or other waste tobacco material from which the nicotin has been extracted by this process, is for fertilizing, an especial advantage of this process being that it extracts the nicotin while leaving the fertilizing constituents, such as compounds of potassium, ammonium and nitrogen, in the tobacco material, and the material is left in the comparatively dry state best suited for preparation of the fertilizer.

What We claim is:

1. The rocess of recovering nicotin or other volatile constituents from tobacco material, which consists in passing steam through the material and maintaining such a temperature as to prevent condensation in 1 the material, and condensing the steam after passage through the material.

2. The process of recovering nicotin or other volatile constituents from tobacco material, which consists in passin superheated P steam through the material and maintaining such a temperature as to prevent condensation in the material, and steam after passage through the material.

3. In a rocess of recovering nicotin or other volat e constituents from tobacco material, passing superheated steam through the tobacco material and maintaining such a temperature as to prevent condensation in the material.

I 4. In a other volatile constituents from tobacco material, sively t rough a series of chambers containing the tobacco material and maintaining such a temperature as to prevent condensa tion in the chambers.

5. In a process for recovering nicotin or other volatile constituentsfrom tobacco material, passing superheated steam through a series of chambers containing the tobacco material, maintaining the material in the chambers at such temperature as to revent condensation in the material, and eating the steam between the successive chambers.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE B. LINDENBERGER. ROBERT B. ARNOLD.

, Witnesses:

J. A. GRAvEs, C. J. SAWYER.

condensing the rocess of recovering nicotin or assing superheated steam sucees 

